What’s ahead for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?

A federal advisory board on Wednesday weighed the benefits versus the risks of using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the U.S.

The consensus: err on the side of caution and don’t rush anything.

For now, the J&J vaccine remains on pause after seven women developed stroke-like symptoms after getting the shot. One of them died.

“Confidence in this vaccine program and now the CDC is in grave, grave danger,” said Del Bigtree, CEO of the Informed Consent Action Network.

As national health experts debated the fate of the J&J vaccine, they heard passionate pleas from the public.

“We now have a vaccine that is just like the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe – and I am honestly questioning the CDC,” Bigtree said.

Experts also heard new information on those affected patients. All of them were white women with a median age of 33.

While the CDC and the FDA pressed paused on the J&J vaccine Tuesday, the risk of more cases cropping up is still out there. More than 1.4 million women 20 to 50 years old have already gotten the shot.

The odds are still about 1 in a million of developing blood clots and low platelet counts.

“Based on the current data, Janssen believes the overall benefit-risk profile for a vaccine is positive across the population for which it’s authorized,” said Dr. Aran Maree, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

The decision comes down to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

“The workgroup had a full discussion around these policy options yesterday and favored extending the pause for a limited period of time while awaiting additional information,” said Dr. Sara Oliver, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC.

“Alternative COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA vaccines, are available, and based on current projections, supply of both vaccines are expected to be relatively stable in the near future. Therefore, the decision isn’t necessarily receipt of a Janssen vaccine versus remaining at risk of COVID.”

The CDC committee also considered age- or gender-specific recommendations, like only allowing adults 50 and up to get the vaccine or limiting it to men. Other countries have moved forward with those strategies.

The CDC will have a call Thursday for clinicians to update them on early detection and treatment options regarding the clots, and they’ll once again discuss the pause in the next 10 days.